Back to School

It's that time again... the start of a new school year.   Robert, Nana, Blake, Barrett, and Brynn all came up to the school for Meet the Teacher.  They stopped by the class lists to check out who their teachers were going to be this year.  Blake is a big third grader now with lockers, binders, and agendas!  I can't believe he is already this old!  We were excited to find out who his teacher is.  Mrs. Langley is very loving and nurturing, exactly what we look for in a teacher!

 Our little Barry... where has the time gone?!  I can't believe our little guy is starting kindergarten!  He is excited to be coming to school full-time (he was here part time for speech last year) with Blake and Mommy!  We were thrilled to see that Ms. Cox is going to be his teacher.  Another prayer answered with this loving and nurturing teacher! 

 They stopped by mommy's classroom to tell me all about their night. 

We are looking forward to another great school year!

Family, Fun, and Farewell

Uncle Josh's time in the U.S. had come to an end, so we had a family cookout as a farewell for him.  The kids swam and played, while the adults sat around in lawn chairs and watched them.

Blake's pose for me... he's too old for pictures now:(

 Well, most of the adults sat back and watched the kids play.  One adult played right along with the kids, goggles and all!
Barrett was so upset he had to wear his "stinkin' fwoaty" since he couldn't touch in this pool.

 I didn't get too many pictures since I was lounging in my chair.  It was a night of family, food, and fun!

We sure will miss Uncle Josh until his next return!

Mosaic

We had a wonderful evening of fellowship with our adoption group at church!

 So excited about how God is working in this group!

Dating and Camping

What do dating and camping have in common you ask?

 When the kids are gone camping with Gram and Papa, we get to go on dates!

We did a tour of restaurants, trying a different one each night.  We tried to choose someplace that would be new to at least one of us.

The first night we ate at Babe's Chicken.

 The next night we ate stuffed ourselves at Cheesecake Factory.

 We enjoyed lunch at Collin Street Bakery for our last outing.

 So many yummy goodies!!

In between our tour of restaurants, we would come home and watch Downton Abbey.  We borrowed the first three seasons on DVD and quickly became addicted!  Now we have to wait until January when Season 4 begins.

 The kids had a blast camping with Gram and Papa!  They biked, hiked, swam, played putt-putt, played and played some more!  We went to get them right before bedtime (hence the pj's) and they had lots stories to tell us!  They lasted five minutes on the drive home before they were all sound asleep!

Randomness

I have more random phone pics to post...

 Nothing like a best buddy to make memories with during the summer!

And a mommy to wear matching Make It Dutch headbands with!

 Pulling up at a traffic light and being so close to your husband, but he never sees you.

 Swinging without a worry in the world!

These are a few of our random summer moments.  Moments we love!

This and That

A look of the past couple of weeks via phone pictures.

 The kids had their yearly eye exams.  Everyone checked out ok.  Barrett is the only one who could potentially need reading glasses, something to keep an eye on.

After a lot of work on my summer project, it was finally delivered!  Our 2012 blog book!

 There has been a lot of snuggling going on at our house! 

Brynn's Day

Brynn's day was our last special Mommy and Daddy day with our kids this summer.  She couldn't wait and was counting the days down.  After Barrett came home with his Build-A-Bear friend last week, she decided that she wanted to spend her day the same way.  We started with lunch at Cotton Patch.

 Then off to choose a new friend.  She had trouble deciding because there were a couple she liked.  She finally chose the Disney Princess Bear.  She got him all stuffed and cleaned up.

 She chose the name, Pink Nose, where we entered it into the computer to get a printed birth certificate. 

 She was a little overwhelmed with the whole experience, but had a great time!

 She couldn't wait to get home to show "the boys" her newest friend!

 We had a great time spending one on one time with her... and boy did she chatter without having to compete for attention!

This concludes our first annual special Mommy and Daddy days!  It was a huge success!  We enjoyed the time spent with each one of our children, just getting to talk to them and focus on them individually!